Johnson's tenure running the nation's largest mutual fund company has spanned three decades — the only other change of leadership in 61 years at Fidelity was when Johnson took over for his father. But the job has become increasingly complex as Johnson tries to fend off rivals' gains and streamline operations, while outsiders' calls for governance reform grow louder.

"He hasn't missed a beat, and a lot of people have crumbled while he's still going 100 miles per hour," says Eric Kobren, a former Fidelity employee who edits the independent money advice newsletter Fidelity Investor. He suspects Johnson "isn't going anywhere soon."

The notoriously insular company isn't publicly offering a timeline for leadership change, or disclosing details of a succession plan it says it has in place, even amid some suggestions that the uncertainty could be hurting Fidelity's competitiveness.

The heir apparent — Johnson's 46-year-old daughter, Abigail Johnson — has not been confirmed as such, and some observers question whether she even wants the job. And a flurry of management and organizational changes this year eliminated two other successor candidates from contention.

Outsiders still regard Abigail Johnson as an odds-on favorite for the top job, by virtue not only of her bloodline, but the diversity of management positions she's held overseeing Fidelity's increasingly far-flung financial services.

But her father is still firmly in charge — and by all accounts, apparently healthy.

"Nothing has told me that he's anxious to pass the baton very quickly, unless something were to develop with his health, or some family issue," said Patrick McGovern, a friend who occasionally dines with Johnson and is founder and chairman of IDG Group, a Boston-based technology research and publishing firm.

'The appropriate time'

Fidelity rarely makes executives available for interviews, and declined requests from the Associated Press. A recent statement issued by Ned Johnson on succession planning described a continuing process to "pass the corporation on in good operating order to the next generation of executives at the appropriate time."

Whoever eventually succeeds Johnson, big changes are expected at the Boston-based company that's a huge force on Wall Street, as the largest provider of Americans' workplace retirement savings plans and a manager of nearly $1.6 trillion in assets.

Observers say Johnson's successor won't have as much power as he has wielded filling the chairman and chief executive roles since 1977 — posts that could be split between two people when his replacement is named. And the private firm will face increasing pressure to operate more like a publicly held company, with greater attention to open governance, cost-cutting and short-term financial results.

"Whoever follows Ned Johnson can't run it the way he has. The old model doesn't work anymore," said Bruce Raynor, co-chairman of the Council of Institutional Investors, representing public, labor, and corporate pension funds, and general president of Unite Here, a union of hospitality and textile workers.

Middling returns

Fidelity has recently diversified from its core mutual fund business into areas such as individual retirement planning and employee benefit management, after seeing only middling returns in recent years from key mutual funds that fueled rapid growth in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Rivals' success

Meanwhile, Vanguard Group and Capital Group's American Funds have recently enjoyed greater success attracting investor money amid rising popularity of low-cost index and exchange-traded funds. Those investments don't play off Fidelity's strength as an active manager of funds that capitalize on the hottest stocks from day to day.

At Fidelity, Johnson family members hold 49 percent of its voting stock — key managers control the rest — and its board consists solely of current or former company executives and Johnson family members.

The structure has come under criticism not only from activists like Raynor, but from Moody's Investors Service. A November report on Fidelity's creditworthiness questioned whether Ned Johnson and his family wield too much power, and said Johnson and other managers haven't adequately defended the company's once-dominant position in mutual funds.

Moody's also said unresolved questions about leadership succession and recent management changes have created uncertainty that could hurt efforts to draw top talent to Fidelity.

Assortment of 431

Among its competitors, Los Angeles-based American Funds manages just 30 large funds compared with Fidelity's assortment of 431. Like Fidelity, American Funds is privately owned by employees, but without a dominant family like the Johnsons. Teams of "portfolio counselors" manage individual funds, adding more counselors as funds grow in size. In contrast, Fidelity typically closes funds to new investors when they get too big. Fidelity traditionally gives an individual manager broad oversight to run a fund, although it recently launched new team-managed funds.

Valley Forge, Pa.-based Vanguard touts low investment fees and expertise in index funds that passively track stocks of groups of companies. Vanguard is owned by its clients, with each fund contributing money to cover management, marketing and other costs — a unique structure the company maintains steers clear of potential conflicts involving management.

Outsiders who advise Fidelity investors say the impending leadership change must be accompanied by a new business culture.

A tighter ship?

"I don't think you have to read too far between the lines to understand that Fidelity is going to be run on a much tighter mandate, to be more accountable for how all its businesses operate, and to run a tighter ship," said
Jim Lowell
, who runs the independent newsletter Fidelity Investor, a rival newsletter to Kobren's publication.

Fidelity dismisses the criticism.

"Mr. Johnson and the Fidelity board have succeeded over the years in creating one of the most successful and fast-growing financial services companies in the world," said spokeswoman Anne Crowley, who notes Fidelity's managed assets rose 15 percent over the 12 months that ended in November.

Some observers say Ned Johnson may want to wait to turn over the reins until he's managed to improve Fidelity's competitive footing.